The Birds
It must be a good while since I last saw this one ‘cos it kind of felt like watching it for the first time, different things jumping out to a different me than before. The lovebirds swaying in the passenger seat of Melanie’s car; the scene with the postmaster, “You ever handled a boat before … want me to order one?” and the whole procedure of getting her to Bodega Bay. Was Hitchcock ever cheekier than he was here?
Is it still scary at all? I think certainly that final shot is one of the more chilling images in cinema. I’m always unsettled by the colour scheme too – a gorgeous mix of sickly greens and yellows, with blood-red spots of nail polish and lipstick on the women, ornaments in the background, Annie’s mailbox, a child’s cardigan at the school, a plush seat at the diner … and of course, ultimately, limited quantities of actual blood (in one scene, of course, actual blood). And somewhere in the last third, something switches, and the visceral terror of it all does take over – even as you’re still laughing at the sheer B-movie-ness of it all, the assault on the senses is undeniably effective, and Bernard Herrmann’s extraordinary sound design impacts above everything. Combined with the way the characters almost begin to sound like birds themselves towards the end (Hedren most of all – “Cathy! Where’s Cathy?” and that final “Nooooo!” as they attempt to get her out the door to escape), the whole combo is astoundingly primal, and there are psychological levels running through this movie that would take pages to address.
It starts as another of Hitch’s elaborate, playful “Boo!”s … but he really knows how to throw that switch, and on this occasion in particular, it really worked as a scary movie to a shocking extent.